DEVON’S ROAD, BOW
This month we visit Devon’s Road, Bow, in the heart of London
Situated deep in London environs, Devon’s Road, Bow – coded 1D in 1949 – was the main bastion of the small North London Railway (NLR), being laid down in 1882 on the orders of the company’s chief mechanical engineer J.C. Park.
It replaced a previous shed at Bow adjacent to the Poplar line, with that site becoming the main works for the NLR, and the new shed being built in a more southerly location. When constructed, the first version of Devon’s Road used two buildings designated No. 1 and No. 2. By this time, the London & North Western Railway (LNWR) was already making its presence felt and both sheds closely followed the Webb pattern incorporating ten roads and the ability to hold 50 locomotives apiece.
Adjacent to the running lines, No. 1 shed was used for engines in steam necessitating a coaling stage close by, while No. 2 was used for servicing and featured the site’s 110,000 gallon water tank together with the stores and a water softening plant. In latter years, the depot was deemed to be too large, and No. 2 shed was demolished in the 1930s, with No. 1 shed receiving a new louvred roof.
Before the NLR was taken over by the LNWR in 1909, Devon’s Road was its only major depot and featured a steadily growing allocation of tank engines that, by 1923 under LMS control, had expanded to 77, mainly of ex-NLR types. These in turn began to be replaced by the London Midland & Scottish Railway’s ‘3F’ 0-6-0 tanks, with the addition of former London, Tilbury & Southend Railway 4-4-2 tanks. There was also a variety of ‘Mogul’ designs beginning with the excellent Hughes-Fowler ‘Crabs’ which in turn gave way to the ‘43XXX’ class after nationalisation.
By the mid-1950s, the Devon’s Road fleet was primarily used on freight turns, with the ‘3F’ tanks still dominating the types there. These were used as shunters for other local depots, on dock workings and light freight duties, remaining until August 1958, when No. 47517 headed north to Barrow shed.
Like some other depots, Devon’s Road had different shedcodes, and in fact was allocated 13B in 1935 before becoming 1D in 1949. In 1957, it was announced that 1D would move entirely to the servicing of the new diesels, with the remaining 41 steam engines being replaced by 33 of the new form of traction. Despite extensive changes to the existing shed, Devon’s Road was one of the first diesel depots to suffer the axe, with the fleet of English Electric Type 1 D8000s and NBL D2900 shunters transferred away to the new shed at Stratford.
Steam was still present on site as late as 1963, as it was used for storage of former main line engines such as ‘Patriots’ and ‘Royal Scots’, but on February 10 1964 it closed its doors for the last time, falling into dereliction soon afterwards. The site is now social housing, with the streets having railway-themed names.